


don't give up.

by darwinsdonut



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Unspecified Setting, angst & fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-23 18:16:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16164266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darwinsdonut/pseuds/darwinsdonut
Summary: "Tucker- who also pretended not to care, who absolutely did care, who knew Grif did, too."





	don't give up.

Grif collapsed.

He fell to his knees and he kept falling. His head hit ground and his stomach rolled and his chest erupted in furious pain. He couldn’t keep going. It was too much. It was all too much. He was done, he was down-

It was over.

Everything.

Red Team. Simmons. Sarge. Everything. Blood Gulch, AIs, Chorus, food, love, laughter. Stupid fights, petty negotiations, teamwork and team failures-

Everything.

His chest seized again. He couldn’t remember what Simmons had said, how long ago, anything. He remembered only- the pain.

“Grif.” A voice- not the right voice- through the agony. “You can’t give up.”

Grif was so tired. He was so goddamn tired. He’d tried so hard, so long, and for nothing.

“Grif, come on, you  _ have  _ to get up-”

No. He didn’t. There was no reason. And he was tired. The excruciating constrictions in his chest lessened, receded to the hollow ache he’d felt since That Night. He used to dream in monochrome- then Simmons added color. For a week it had been back to monochrome. Right then, he didn’t care.

The voice again, closer. “Grif. It’s never going to get better if you give up. Trust me, I haven’t gone a  _ day  _ this whole war without wanting to give up- but we can’t. We can’t rest easy till this is done. You can pretend you don’t care- I tried that, too- but you won’t rest easy.”

Grif didn’t want to care. He didn’t want to admit he was right. He wanted to give up, to let go, to give in.

He propped himself up on his elbows, eyes closed. “Tucker?”

Grif sighed.

“Let’s get back to base.”

Tucker patted Grif’s back and helped him up. The world swam, Grif wavered; wordlessly, Tucker wrapped a steadying arm around Grif and helped him walk.

“Me and Simmons got in a fight,” Grif said. He mentally heard Simmons’ pretentious correction,  _ Simmons and I. _

Tucker glanced at him. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. And not like usual.”

“We’ll work through it. He’s your best friend, you two will figure it out.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah. Just don’t give up, alright?”

Grif sighed. He could hear Sarge mocking him. He could hear Lopez’s  _ Idiota.  _ He could even hear Donut. And worst of all, Simmons.

And over all that, he heard Tucker. The blue most like Grif, in that neither of them received credit for their competence, so they worked hard out of necessity. Tucker, who feigned confidence twice as well as Grif and hid his insecurities behind quirks. Tucker- who also pretended not to care, who absolutely did care, who knew Grif did, too.

Grif felt his aches and pains and heard the relentless criticisms of his teammates and he squared his shoulders.

He refused to give up.

He’d keep going- because he cared, and because, really, it was all else there was to do- giving up isn't an option.


End file.
